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Topic: Walking Dead (Read 17632 times)

So I just watched the Season 7 premiere. Needless to say, there are massive spoilers that cannot be avoided in any discussion of it, so click away if you've not seen it yet..............

Anyhow, starting somewhere midway through Season 5 and going through pretty much all of last season, I've found the premise of the show growing stale enough that I became less and less interested in watching. I'd still watch, but it wasn't appointment viewing on Sunday night like it had been previously.

Well, things have certainly changed in the story. They teased us into thinking Abraham was the sole casualty, but then Glen received the same end. Both literally had their brains splattered all over the ground leaving no recognizable trace of their heads. I am not sure what I think about it. I am not squeamish, and I think portrayal of wanton, sadistic violence can be a useful thing, after all in this world of Bataclan theater massacres and ISIS torturing captives to death the Eloi need to be smacked in the face with reminders that the real world has monsters in it who would become real life Negans given the opportunity.

But damn if I can't shake the initial feeling that that episode was violence porn. They definitely twisted the expectations of the viewers (by twisting the expectations of the characters themselves) by showing Rick in the familiar position of being outnumbered and outgunned by the Big Bad but remaining defiant and even telling the Big Bad that he's going to kill him. Yeah, well, Negan was unimpressed by that bit of bravado, and he made sure Rick understood that it would be other people who would pay the price for it.

Part of me thinks the show should end right now, with Rick and his remaining crew subjugated and broken, all hopefulness of the preceding 6 seasons permanently dashed. That's reality for most of human history. The Rule of Law has been squandered for political advantage, so we will be left with the only other law there is, the Law of the Jungle.

"No arts; no letters; no society; and which is worst of all, continual fear, and danger of violent death: and the life of man, solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short." -- Hobbes

I wasn't going to watch. Gunsmith said he was going to so I reluctantly did as well ...... with frequent non-commercial breaks to ... tend to stuff in the kitchen.

I don't know if I'll continue watching -- previews have Rick telling the Alexandria people he's no longer their leader, Negan is.

Meh.

The episode struck me in the same way as Sons of Anarchy, and I skipped the last season.

Yes, if/when comes TEOFTWAWKIT, there will be men and women just like Negan --not that there aren't now, but here and now is different -- and I've tried steeling myself in the put-on-the-big-person's-pants mindset, but, jeez .........

Yes, if/when comes TEOFTWAWKIT, there will be men and women just like Negan --not that there aren't now, but here and now is different -- and I've tried steeling myself in the put-on-the-big-person's-pants mindset, but, jeez .........

There will be people like him, but I doubt they rise to the sort of power Negan has in the show. One well placed sniper and his reign of terror is over.Psychopaths don't make good leaders, and in a population were everyone is armed, they don't last long.

Yes, if/when comes TEOFTWAWKIT, there will be men and women just like Negan --not that there aren't now, but here and now is different -- and I've tried steeling myself in the put-on-the-big-person's-pants mindset, but, jeez .........

There will be people like him, but I doubt they rise to the sort of power Negan has in the show. One well placed sniper and his reign of terror is over.Psychopaths don't make good leaders, and in a population were everyone is armed, they don't last long.

I had the same take on that. The coming episodes will have to show us a different side of Negan for it to be believable at all. Psychopaths who obtain that sort of power over others have to have a compelling charisma that offsets their violence. The only way I could see such an assemblage of people, all of whom are armed, tolerating the leadership of a Negan is if his way offered something obviously better than what they had before. Negan makes The Governor seem almost benevolent in retrospect.

But yeah, I just don't see something like that existing in real human societies. If I was subjected to what Rick's people endured, I would be at a point where I'd be motivated by nothing more than killing that MFer and wouldn't even care about losing my own life in the process. But for a heavy oak table leg, Adolf Hitler would have been killed by Stauffenberg's explosive. Anyone can be gotten to, and you give people enough motivation they won't even care if it kills them to get to you.

Was disappointed in Rick. Ricks group's in shock but I'd say raging with hate and faced odds many times.

I would have trusted my group to be ready, because when that camper pulled back in, ( use the axe Rick, cut his friggin head off, Rick, you had the opportunity) I'd kick out a headless body, give it about a second, step out and mow down those stupid followers before the shock of the headless body wore off. If he knew his group, they would kick into action and I bet those idiot followers wouldn't get a shot off. I mean, they were killing them easily in previous episodes.

Once in control, pull out the severed head and tell these hayseeds this is what happens when the chit gets real. Then, it clobberin time!

Logged

I'm not always engulfed in scandals, but when I am, I make sure I blame others.

Now that would set up a next episode. Rick mowing them down, getting control and you gotta come back next week to see what they do to these hayseeds......Who wants two busted heads when we could see dozens.

Logged

I'm not always engulfed in scandals, but when I am, I make sure I blame others.

The only way I could see such an assemblage of people, all of whom are armed, tolerating the leadership of a Negan is if his way offered something obviously better than what they had before. Negan makes The Governor seem almost benevolent in retrospect.

I just don't see how they could pull that off. The Saviors are obviously well organized, with multiple bases and settlements, and he can provide for them well enough by strong arming based on the half of your stuff rule - but HALF of your stuff is going to foster resentment. So is torturing anyone from the community for the transgression of others. Nor do I see how Negan recruits- Does he ask people form his victim communities to join? Is that why Hilltop had no fighters? Because supposedly Negan offered them a position of power over their (former) friends and neighbors? And not one person arbors resentment toward Negan when one of those friends is , say , dropped from a bridge, to "send a message"?

That implies his recruits must come from places outside of those communities he victimizes. And don't pretend to me that there are as many women Savior members as there are men. Any woman in those compounds is either a personal concubine or a community whore. And with that many men, you really think you are going to somehow stop them from kidnapping, raping or enslaving women from these subjugated communities?

I wasn't going to watch. Gunsmith said he was going to so I reluctantly did as well ...... with frequent non-commercial breaks to ... tend to stuff in the kitchen.

I don't know if I'll continue watching -- previews have Rick telling the Alexandria people he's no longer their leader, Negan is.

Meh.

The episode struck me in the same way as Sons of Anarchy, and I skipped the last season.

Yes, if/when comes TEOFTWAWKIT, there will be men and women just like Negan --not that there aren't now, but here and now is different -- and I've tried steeling myself in the put-on-the-big-person's-pants mindset, but, jeez .........

I like Sci-Fi, fantasy, horror, and various kinds of adventures, but I have a low threshold for gratuitous violence. Having gotten a good taste of it in the real world it all seems so pointless and affected. Likewise with your Twain quote, a little profanity is the spice et al, but the way Hollyweird litters the stage it's off-putting.

I've viewed a few of the Walking Dead episodes but I can't seem to stick with them. Too many stupid people making stupid decisions. They'd all be dead by now!

I wasn't going to watch. Gunsmith said he was going to so I reluctantly did as well ...... with frequent non-commercial breaks to ... tend to stuff in the kitchen.

I don't know if I'll continue watching -- previews have Rick telling the Alexandria people he's no longer their leader, Negan is.

Meh.

The episode struck me in the same way as Sons of Anarchy, and I skipped the last season.

Yes, if/when comes TEOFTWAWKIT, there will be men and women just like Negan --not that there aren't now, but here and now is different -- and I've tried steeling myself in the put-on-the-big-person's-pants mindset, but, jeez .........

I like Sci-Fi, fantasy, horror, and various kinds of adventures, but I have a low threshold for gratuitous violence. Having gotten a good taste of it in the real world it all seems so pointless and affected. Likewise with your Twain quote, a little profanity is the spice et al, but the way Hollyweird litters the stage it's off-putting.

I've viewed a few of the Walking Dead episodes but I can't seem to stick with them. Too many stupid people making stupid decisions. They'd all be dead by now!

Kinda where I ended up too...i checked out...the show started losing my interest like most do...and I think the reason so many stupid decisions are made by characters in the show is because the producers and writers are milking this puppy and they are too stupid to know how to milk it right...I think they got arrogant (yeah, I know unusual for Hollyweirdo types, eh?) and overestimated the following of this show...it's almost as if they think the viewers have the same cultish mentality as your average Prog and will just go along with everything no matter what...

I realize it's a TV show and they have to make characters do seemingly stupid and inexplicable things as a source of tension or plot elements, but every time I see them do things like clearing buildings or walking as a dismounted patrol I -- as a non-expert with no military experience -- can't help but notice the awful situational awareness, bunching up into groups where it's too easy to muzzle your friends and too difficult to engage threats, not to mention being an easy target for bad guys.

I thought even since ancient times fighting forces have understood the point of tactical separation. The Greek phalanx was notable because it was a deliberate bunching together, but they had a specific reason for it and they were highly disciplined in doing it.

I also think they don't use vehicles offensively like they should. An armored vehicle with stand-offs mounted to it could clear dozens of walkers pretty easily.

I also think they don't use vehicles offensively like they should. An armored vehicle with stand-offs mounted to it could clear dozens of walkers pretty easily.

No kidding. Carol figured that out - and then went driving by herself because she was tired of killing or being a killer or whatever her problem was. . WTF. Then stay home and bake more acorn cookies.. Don't drive off on your own into an environment that necessitates conflict and killing. Duh.

I think they could have done a really interesting series, with lots of opportunity for character growth, internal and external conflict , if they just followed the journey of a group INTELLIGENTLY clearing an area, building a settlement, coming into contact with other settlements, experiencing internal leadership and organizational growing pains as they become larger and well defended. Dealing with when to admit outsiders and when not. Some of that growth could simply be the clueless suburbanite learning - the hard way - becoming situationally aware, how to move, etc. Largely, Carol could have been that character... Hell I would even take Carol supplanting some male leader to satisfy the feminist crowd - as long as the decisions were intelligent. The story could really have revolved around the troubles that would actually be encountered trying to rebuild a town and society in that environment. But no, we get 7 seasons of stupid decisions, leading to the same stupid outcomes, driving home "masculine toxicity" over and over and over.